The Impact of the Adequate Yearly Progress
Requirement of the Federal “No Child Left
Behind” Act on Schools in the Great Lakes
Region
Executive Summary
by
Edward W. Wiley
Assistant Professor
University of Colorado – Boulder
William J. Mathis
Superintendent
Rutland Northeast Supervisory Union
University of Vermont
David R. Garcia
Assistant Professor
Arizona State University
Education Policy Research Unit (EPRU)
Education Policy Studies Laboratory
College of Education
Division of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies
Box 872411
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ 85287-2411
September 2005
DUCATION POLICY STUDIES LABORATORY
EPSL | EEducation
Policy Research Unit
EPSL-0509-109-EPRU
http://edpolicylab.org
Education Policy Studies Laboratory
Division of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies
College of Education, Arizona State University
P.O. Box 872411, Tempe, AZ 85287-2411
Telephone: (480) 965-1886
Fax: (480) 965-0303
E-mail: epsl@asu.edu
http://edpolicylab.org
This research was made possible by a grant from the Great Lakes Center
for Education Research and Practice.
The Impact of the Adequate Yearly Progress Requirement of
the Federal “No Child Left Behind” Act on Schools in the
Great Lakes Region
Edward W. Wiley
University of Colorado – Boulder
William J. Mathis
Rutland Northeast Supervisory Union
University of Vermont
David R. Garcia
Arizona State University
Executive Summary
This study finds that nearly every school in the Great Lakes states is threatened to
fail the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) requirements mandated by the federal “No
Child Left Behind” (NCLB) Act. NCLB holds schools and districts accountable for
student achievement on state standardized tests and schools that do not make AYP face
sanctions. A school or district can avoid sanctions one of two ways: produce test scores
that meet AYP annual objectives set by the state, or by making sufficient improvement
over the previous year’s test scores to take advantage of “Safe Harbor” status.
The goals of NCLB are deceptively simple: All schools and districts receiving
funds for socially and economically deprived children (Title I) must bring all students up
to state standards by 2014. The implementation is considerably more complex. The most
critical and controversial aspects of NCLB are school accountability policies and AYP
requirements. This study examines the implementation of those policies in the Great
Lakes states, and projects the percentage of schools that will make or fail to make AYP,
and those that could be Safe Harbor eligible:
•
Illinois is projected, under the best case scenario, to have more than 96
percent of schools fail AYP with 29 percent of schools potentially Safe
Harbor eligible in 2014.
•
Indiana is projected to have 80 to 85 percent of schools eventually fail AYP
in 2014, according to the most realistic scenarios.
•
Michigan is projected to have nearly 50 percent of schools fail to make AYP
in 2014, but remain Safe Harbor eligible according to the most forgiving
scenario. Still, nearly all of these schools could fail to make AYP outright
under the remaining scenarios.
•
Minnesota is projected to have 81 percent of its schools failing AYP in 2014
but 27 percent of schools could be Safe Harbor eligible. Schools are projected
to fail at a consistent rate as the AYP requirements increase annually.
•
Ohio is projected to have a relatively high percentage of schools make AYP
(approximately 85 percent) until 2011, at which point the percentage of
schools making AYP drops dramatically to a low point of 12 percent of
schools making AYP.
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http://www.asu.edu/educ/epsl/EPRU/documents/EPSL-0509-109-EPRU.pdf
•
Wisconsin is projected to experience the biggest impact in the later years
(2011-2014) when 84 percent schools are projected to fail AYP, but 34
percent of schools could be Safe Harbor eligible.
In general, approximately 85 percent of schools in the Great Lakes states are
projected to fail AYP in 2014 under the most optimistic scenarios. Under more realistic
circumstances, the overall failure rate is projected to be at or above 95 percent.
In summation, the authors question the sustainability of the AYP requirements.
Furthermore, they caution that schools are not capable of closing the achievement gap
without resolving the social problems that underlie this gap. They point out that adequate
funding for remediation and social infrastructure is essential to meeting the stated goals
of NCLB.
The projections for the Great Lakes states are applicable to the nation as a whole
and are a warning about the sustainability of NCLB, as the AYP requirements are
currently constructed. The entire country faces tremendous failure rates, even under a
conservative estimate with several forgiving assumptions.
Page 3 of 3
This document is available on the Education Policy Studies Laboratory website at:
http://www.asu.edu/educ/epsl/EPRU/documents/EPSL-0509-109-EPRU.pdf